In contact sports, such as lacrosse or hockey, where sticks are essential elements of the game, a player's hands and wrists are especially vulnerable to injury when being checked by another player's stick. For this reason, players typically utilize padded gloves to protect their hands, wrists and lower forearms during play. The areas of a player's hand that are particularly susceptible to injury are those where the glove flexes, because at those locations, the protective padding is typically constructed such that it can bend or flex with a player's joint. However, bending or flexing of the glove, such as at the wrist or knuckle area, can leave the player's joint exposed due to the bending away of the protective padding and, therefore, susceptible to injury.
Many current protective sports gloves utilize wrist guards to protect a player's wrist between the cuff and the hand portion which location can be exposed when a player's hand flexes during play. While most prior wrist guards provide adequate protection, they provide limited flexibility and adjustability and are therefore uncomfortable. Because of these limitations, they are often removed or not utilized by the players. It is also a problem to provide a protective guard for a player's wrist between the hand and the cuff portion that not only protects the player's wrist, but also provides desired flexibility. Most wrist guards are either overly bulky and limit flexibility or are too small and provide minimal protection.
Additionally, many prior protective gloves include cuff portions that are secured directly to the hand portion by stitching. The stitching limits the flexibility of a player's wrist and cannot be adjusted. U.S. Pat. No. 5,983,396 discloses a configuration where the cuff and the hand portion are attached to one another by lacing that allows for improved flexibility and also adjustability. However, the lacing typically must be done by hand and therefore requires significant labor time in order to manufacture the glove, thereby increasing its cost. Moreover, while the flexibility of these gloves is improved, it is still relatively limited.
Further, other protective gloves have been introduced that provide increased ventilation and breathability. For example, some protective gloves have been introduced that utilize mesh material on portions or the entirety of a player's palm and fingers. With some protective gloves, the mesh material is located in areas on the palm that are not primarily intended to contact a stick. Because of the amount of movement of the stick in a player's hand, such as through cradling or the like, locating the mesh portions in these non-high use areas minimizes the tendency of the mesh material to wear quickly and ultimately tear, therefore rendering the glove illegal for play. Moreover, other protective gloves have utilized vent holes in the back portion of the glove to provide increased ventilation. While these protective gloves provide increased ventilation, they do not make any provisions for increased protection or flexibility for a wearer's hand.
Additionally, the cuff portion of most current protective gloves does not fully cover the underside of a wearer's wrist or forearm. While lacing typically extends between and connects either end of the cuff portion, wearer's rarely tighten these up, because doing so would decrease the glove's flexibility and range of motion during play. Thus, wearer's typically leave the lace loose, which leaves the ends of the cuff portion spaced apart from one another, and leaves the underside of a wearer's wrist and/or forearm with no padding covering it, thereby making it susceptible to injury.
Therefore, a need exists for a protective sports glove that provides increased protection for a wearer's hand, wrist, and/or forearm without decreasing ventilation or flexibility. Moreover, a need also exists for a protective sports glove that maximizes both flexibility and protection.